I’ve been following the Twitter ban issue in Turkey and these are the kind of news that have been making the headlines:
• Twitter was banned in the country last week
• Yesterday, a court ordered ban on suspension of the social media site
• Today a block on Youtube has been imposed
• Telecoms authority described the move as ‘administrative measure’
• Block comes after leaked audio
seems to record Turkish officials
discussing Syria
• Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan blocked Twitter ahead of elections
• Mr Erdogan is battling corruption scandal
• Recordings of him allegedly admitting wrongdoing flooded social media
• Google is now looking into the ban – says some users still accessing site
• Other sites could be blocked if
documents ‘threatening’ national
security leaked – government
officials have said.
One thing can be seen by accessing this situation: The Government of Turkey is trying its best to control what is being seen and heard by the Turkish public. This is totally unacceptable and it is an apparent violation of human rights of Freedom of Association and Information.
The Turkish Prime Minister was accused of Corruption and his reaction was to ‘attack’ (block) social media sites for “carrying a lot of falsehood”. Twitter has been banned and YouTube and any other social media considered to be anti-government will also be targeted!
Even after a court ruled against the ban of twitter, the Government decided to ignore the court ruling. Once again, this is unacceptable!
Is Turkey no longer operating a democracy?
How can a Government restrict what people can see and hear?